An Examination of Gender Differences in How Students Perceive School Racial Climate
This study examined how race and gender influenced students' perceptions of school racial climate. A large body of research has demonstrated that the perceived quality of school climate is linked to academic performance (Kuperminc, Leadbeater, Emmons, and Blatt, 1997). It is hoped that research on racial climate perceptions may lead to greater equity in educational outcomes for students across race and gender. Racial climate is diverse views that emerge as a result of racial dynamics of the environment including the perceived level of racism and discrimination in the policies, attitudes, and practices ingrained in the infrastructure of a learning institution (Johnson, 2003). The results of the MANOVA indicated that there was a main effect for gender (F=9.13; p£ .00) as well as race (F= 111.33; p£ .00), but there was no race by gender interaction. Overall, males and females viewed the climate slightly differently from one another. From that we concluded that it all depends on what aspect of school racial climate you take into consideration. Our results suggested that the relationship between experiences of racism and need for change all depends on race, and among African American students, it all depends on gender.
School:
Grambling State University
Department:
Psychology
Research Advisor:
Mark Aber
Department of Research Advisor:
Psychology
Year of Publication:
2006